


Kamen Rider Drive: The Unexpected Passengers

by Queen_Authoress_Starcy_Hand



Series: There's More to Our World Than We Know [6]
Category: Kamen Rider Drive, Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Crossover, Established Relationship, F/M, Retelling, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-08-07 08:45:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7708537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_Authoress_Starcy_Hand/pseuds/Queen_Authoress_Starcy_Hand
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Global Freeze. That night is one that no one that experienced it would ever forget. For most people, that meant different things were happening to them. They were eating, playing, spending time with family, working, and so much more everyday activities. For a select few, however, a lesson was learned that day.<br/>Officer Shinnosuke Tomari would learn what it was like to lose his partner.<br/>Traffic Officer Kiriko Shijima would learn what true fear felt like.<br/>Dr. Krim Steinbelt and Proto-Zero would learn that not everyone could be affected by the Heavy Acceleration.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Who Are You, My New Comrades?

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this is only a side project that I take interest in once in a while. This may never be completed even though it is part of the series and I want all of you to know that from the get-go. Even so, I really hope you enjoy what I have written.

Protodrive was doing an excellent job taking care of the Roidmude threat that plagued mainly the city, Krim thought. Despite not being able to destroy the Roidmude Cores, destroying their bodies would allow him time to be able to create a permanent solution to the problem. Although, while there were relatively only a few Roidmudes, shouldn’t there be more trying to attack Protodrive?

A Roidmude that was trying to sneak up on Protodrive was suddenly shot down. Protodrive turned them around, allowing Krim to get a good look at the person that was shooting down the Roidmudes.

It was a teenage girl with long, brown hair. From what he could see, she didn’t seem to be human, but she clearly wasn’t a Roidmude. She was probably leaning more towards something robotic as everything she was wearing minus her hat was made of some type of metal and the fact that she was moving at a normal speed despite the Heavy Acceleration and the rain taking place.

She was a very good shot, too. She continued to hit the Roidmudes that were after her with ease. She even got some from over her shoulder without even looking backwards _while dodging_. While her shots didn’t seem to be doing much damage, she was keeping a bunch of the rogue robots’ attention off of Protodrive and away from the humans as there was only one in the area that could be seen and she was hiding behind an overturned table.

“Krim, who is fighting the Roidmudes?” Protodrive asked, its voice carrying not even one hint of curiosity (not that it surprised him, the Roidmude not having any emotions whatsoever). It probably only asked to make sure that this person was an ally and not an enemy wanting to destroy it and him.

“I don’t know,” he responded truthfully. “For now, provide her backup.”

He got no verbal reply. Instead, Protodrive ran over with Max Flare, Funky Spike, and Midnight Shadow going ahead of them. The girl was somewhat startled when the Shift Cars started to knock back some of the Roidmudes. The girl apparently caught on quickly and avoided shooting the Shift Cars while still hitting her mark. Protodrive also fought hand-to-hand combat with some of the other Roidmudes.

The Roidmudes started retreating after Protodrive took out some of them with a Full Throttle. Without the power to destroy their Cores permanently, all they could do was let them go and lick their wounds. At least it would buy him some time to find a solution to this problem.

The girl was about to run after them when Krim stopped her with a “Wait!” She turned around and looked straight at Protodrive. “There’s no point if you can’t destroy their Core let alone the bodies.”

“I could’ve destroyed them,” the girl mumbled under her breath, crossing her arms and looking away. Krim noticed that sometime while he was talking, her guns had disappeared.

“It is very unlikely with the amount of power you were shooting with,” Protodrive replied, simply stating a fact.

The girl looked back at them, confusion in her eyes. “What?”

The human woman (she was unfortunately out of his line of sight) told the girl “I-I think the belt can talk…”

The girl looked down at Krim and her eyes widened in shock and Krim thought he probably would’ve been wearing a mirrored expression if he had a face.

“I believe you should follow us,” Krim told the two.

Protodrive led them to the Drive Pit on his motorcycle.

* * *

Introductions were soon underway. Krim had learned that the girl was named Iris and the woman was Dr. Katherine Stevens (she had just gotten her PhD in robotics engineering and Krim was very happy for her, heck he might’ve taken her on as an employee for being intelligent enough to get her PhD at 20 if he was still alive). Krim watched the two faces contort with surprise as Protodrive took him off of its waist and place him on his pedestal. Seeing a Roidmude, the same things that were attacking everyone earlier, was probably a shock to them.

“You’re… not with them?” Katherine asked.

“No,” Proto-Zero replied, still having a lack of emotion in its voice. “My primary function is to protect humans.” From his stand, Krim could watch it look over to Iris. “You do not seem to be human, therefore you may not fall under my primary function.”

“Well, you got me there,” Iris rubbed the back of her neck.

“ _Iris, shouldn’t we tell them the truth?_ ” Katherine asked her in English. Iris’ go-lucky attitude suddenly disappeared, replaced with a highly guarded one. She clenched her fists tightly. Krim knew that these two had a history together.

“I will tell you about the Roidmudes,” Krim decided after a moment of internal debate. He brought up some of the information that was necessary for their involvement and some more that he figured Dr. Stevens would be able to get.

“My… previous college, Dr. Tenjuro Banno, was the one that created the 108 Roidmudes that were attacking all across the globe today. Proto-Zero here is the prototype. Around 10 years ago, they escaped the lab and killed Banno before a few found me and killed me as well. I was lucky enough to transfer my conscious into my computer and, eventually, this belt before I died. I reactivated Proto-Zero and we have been trying to destroy the Roidmudes as Protodrive ever since.”

“Those Roidmudes have gone Maverick by choice?!” he heard Iris whisper to herself in anger. Her fists clenched at her sides, trembling with the amount of force she was using to do so.

“What do you mean by ‘gone Maverick?’” Krim asked. Iris gasped, turning back to face him. Her entire body was tense. Katherine grabbed hold of one of her trembling hands and Iris almost immediately relaxed. Proto-Zero didn’t react to any of it, but Krim was confused.

“I from another world,” Iris told him. Krim gasped despite the lack-of-need for air. “When I left my world, it was the year 23XX. A hundred years earlier, robots called Reploids were in wide use. Reploids can feel and think just like a normal human can. Most times by virus and sometimes by choice, Reploids would attack other Reploids and humans, killing them. We call them Mavericks.

“There’s an organization that was made to deal with the Mavericks; that’s the Maverick Hunters. I used to be a part of them - heck, I was the best after X and Zero. Then… stuff happened… and now I’m here.”

There was obviously a story behind the ‘stuff happened’ door, but Krim wasn’t going to be the one to pry. Heck, there were still many things that he wasn’t telling those two, so it could wait.

“Well, you did tell us who Protodrive is, so I guess I can tell you about my true self,” Iris appended. Krim’s eyes would’ve widened if he had any when Iris started glowing.

When the glow disappeared, Iris was replaced by a male. He still looked to be a teenager, but one that was older, on the cusp of adulthood. He wore armor and there were parts of him (particularly the core in the middle of his chest and helmet) that clearly made him a robot, but he looked much more human than Proto-Zero does (specifically the facial region). Red hair spiked out from the back of his helmet, his eyes were green, and he had a distinct, large, X-shaped scar on the bridge of his nose.

Krim was shocked at the change Iris just made. There was no way that Roidmudes could change human disguises like that; they could only copy one human at a time. Proto-Zero was as emotionless as ever, probably not even curious about the new development. Katherine just smiled and held his hand tighter as if she was used to this.

“My real name is Axl Stevens,” Axl replied. “I’m the New Generation Reploid prototype and Iris was apparently one of the Reploids I had copied over the years.”

“Stevens…” Krim decided to not focus on the word apparently and decided instead to focus on the name Stevens.

“I didn’t create Axl, I am human, and I’m from this world,” Katherine assured him as if she knew what Krim was thinking of (it was). She then held up their left hands, showing off the gold bands that were on their ring fingers. “But I did marry him.”

If Krim were still human, he would’ve started choking on air right then and there.

Proto-Zero, to Krim’s surprise, tilted his head.


	2. What Can I Do to Protect My Friend?

It had only been a week since the two found out about the Drive Pit and the Roidmudes, but having Katherine and Axl around the Drive Pit was a huge help to Krim. Dr. Stevens’ expertise with creating robots helped Krim in the development of the new Shift Car Type Speed. Axl (while as Iris) was able to provide backup for Protodrive in the field whenever a Roidmude attacked.

To his surprise, Proto-Zero was trying to learn the depth and the type of relationship that Axl and Katherine have. It was hard on it because of the lack of emotions it had to begin with, but Krim hoped that Proto-Zero would be able to do obtain human feelings - that was the original purpose of the Roidmudes in the first place after all.

(If Krim had to be honest with himself, he was also curious about their relationship as well. It wasn’t everyday one found a human and a non-human in a relationship.)

However, while he and Protodrive were trying to defeat 002 - no, Heart - when they were soundly beaten. He was torn off of Proto-Zero and tossed to the side. Proto-Zero was taken by Heart. Axl, as Iris, and Katherine got there too late.

“Krim, what happened?” Iris asked as Katherine picked him up.

“002, h-he evolved,” Krim explained, still shaken on the inside. “We didn’t stand a chance against Heart. He took Proto-Zero.”

Iris quickly transformed into another Reploid. Krim quickly recognizes this Reploid as Canine Tracker (one of the more recent forms he acquired from the way he had talked about it), a humanoid-dog-shaped robot that was used by the Maverick Hunters in their later years and had already memorized the electronic signals that both Krim and Proto-Zero gave off in case of emergencies. He sniffed the air before his ears perked up.

“I got him!” Tracker told them.

“Be careful,” Katherine told him, placing a kiss on his cheek instead of his protruded dog face.

“I will, Katherine,” Tracker reassured her, placing a dog-like hand on her cheek, not being able to return her kiss at the current time. He then got down on all fours and ran towards Proto-Zero’s scent.

Krim could do nothing as he and Katherine watched Tracker leave to try to get Proto-Zero back.

* * *

Canine Tracker followed the electronic scent to a warehouse near the outskirts of Tokyo. He transformed back into his true form and, just as he was designed for, made his way up towards a good vantage point as quietly as he could.

Axl’s eyes widened when he saw what was going on inside. Proto-Zero was strapped to a table, the panel that accessed his Core was removed, and there were three Mavericks standing over him, talking about how Proto-Zero could possibly be the Kamen Rider (so he’s one too, Axl thought), tools ready to do _something_. Axl had a bad feeling that they were going to turn the last good Roidmude into a Maverick.

He couldn’t let that happen.

“Copy Shot!” he whispered to his gun. He shot each of the Mavericks once with the shot. Their data flowed into his mind, somewhat startling him as he didn’t expect it to work on Roidmudes. Their powers and forms becoming his own, their fighting styles integrating with his own, and their personalities, memories, and extra, irrelevant information being discarded, Axl’s code having no use for them since the copy was being done against their will. The three stopped at the modifications that they were giving Proto-Zero and looked around for the intruder. Axl used his power of invisibility to turn himself invisible to quietly drop down and stalk closer towards them. From here he could tell that they were 001, 002 (Heart), and 003, all of them having evolved since the Global Freeze. 003 stayed behind at the operating table while Heart and 001 looked around them for the intruder. Axl snuck up behind and did three things just as 003 was about to do something to Proto-Drive:

1) He changed into Zero.

2) He became visible.

3) He slashed 003 right on the back with the Z-Saber.

With 003 stunned and 001 and Heart not expecting it, it gave Zero the chance to slash open Proto-Zero’s restraints. He grabbed his chest as if he was in pain, but because Krim said that he had no feelings, it was probably to give his Core as much protection as he could give it (the realization that he had no feelings greatly upsetted Axl who had feelings as long as he could remember).

“Proto-Zero, get out of here! I’ll cover you!” Zero told him. Proto-Zero quickly got off of the table, grabbed something from one of the carts, and started running towards the door as best as he could with the injuries he sustained earlier, probably knowing that it was better to get out of there or that Axl didn’t meet the requirements for his primary function. When 001 tried to get at the Roidmude, Zero fired off a round from his Z-Buster at him, knocking the Maverick over from its power. He did the same to Heart and slashed 003 again before running after the injured Roidmude.

Putting the Z-Saber and Z-Buster away, Zero helped Proto-Zero get away as fast as they could. They probably got lucky since none of the other Mavericks were around to ambush them. Zero could feel the Heaviness starting, probably from Heart, but it didn’t affect him in the least. They did, however, manage to get closer to an alley way that allowed them to temporarily hide from their enemies. When they were a few feet in the alley, they were out of the influence of the Heaviness.

It wouldn’t be hard for Zero to hide in the human crowd once he turned back into Axl, but that was another story for Proto-Zero. He then remembered something that Krim told him about the Roidmudes.

“Can you copy someone?” Zero asked Proto-Zero. “I don’t think we’ll make it back without anyone noticing if you don’t.”

“I can,” Proto-Zero answered with his voice as emotionless as ever. “However, I need to be closer for it to work.” Zero nodded, slowly working them closer to the street as he changed into his everyday form - his true form with his hair hanging in a loosely tied ponytail and instead of armor was wearing street clothes.

Suddenly, there was a police officer at the beginning of the alley. He appeared to be a traffic cop by the looks of things. His eyes widened seeing Proto-Zero and Axl was startled as well when Proto-Zero transformed into a human that looked exactly like him. Seeing the human’s reaction, Axl hadn’t been this scared since-

He was pulled out from remembering when Proto-Zero suddenly whimpered in fear of the human in front of him and pain of part of his body missing. It was such a shock to not only see him with a human face exactly like the human that was facing them, but to also be expressing emotions that he has never felt before now.

“He’s not with them,” Axl assured the human male as best as he could. “Please don’t tell anyone, especially your higher ups.” He walked Proto-Zero around him and started walking as fast as he could back to the Drive Pit without drawing anyone else’s attention.

Axl could see a couple of Roidmudes out of the corner of his eyes, but thankfully they didn’t seem interested in them at all.

* * *

Krim’s eyes widened with shock when Axl came through the door to the Drive Pit with an injured police officer in tow. Katherine stood up from the computer she was working at and ran over to her husband. She quickly made sure he was alright.

“I’m fine, I swear,” Axl reassured her, smirking as he continued talking. “I got them pretty good. They probably didn’t even know what hit them!”

“Axl, who is that?” Krim asked from his pedestal, noting the person that seemed to be in a lot of pain, one hand covering and clutching his chest while the other was slung over Axl’s shoulders, holding Speed Prototype in his hands.

“He’s Proto-Zero,” was the answer Krim got.

If Krim was still alive, he would be choking on air right now.

“P-Proto-Zero?! How?! Why?!”

“He’s injured,” Axl ignored Krim’s rantings and focused on telling his wife the necessary information. “They were about to do something to his Core.”

“I’ll take a look at him,” Katherine said, easing Proto-Zero’s weight off of Axl and onto herself. “Proto-Zero, I’m going to take a look at your Core and see if they did anything to you, but I’m going to need you to change back, alright?”

Proto-Zero nodded, cringing as it - no, it was he now - was slowly set down onto the couch. It was… concerning, seeing these emotions play out over a face. Even when Proto-Zero returned to his Roidmude form, the body language he was giving off showed more than enough of his pain.

As Katherine looked inside of and started scanning Proto-Zero, Axl started retelling what had happened on his journey to save Proto-Zero. Krim would’ve choked on air if he had been alive when Axl told him that he had copied 001, Heart, and 003.

“I was shocked, too!” Axl agreed. “I mean, Reploids are easy, Mechaniloids are doable, and there was R.O.B., but I didn’t think that I could copy them! I just did that for a laugh!”

“W-well,” Krim got off that set of tracks and tried to place them on the original. “After Proto-Zero is fixed up, we should try to find out who he copied.”

“Besides the obvious lack of chest protection, your Core has been punctured and scratched in several places,” Dr. Stevens gave her diagnosis after a moment of silence. “Besides the addition of the new... human element you’ve taken on from scanning the human, there doesn’t seem to be any other changes to your programming. It seems Axl got to you just in time.” Axl sighed in relief. “I can replace the metal on your chest easily and the scratches will heal with time. It’s the punctures I’m worried about; they might heal if left alone, but I’d rather have Mad Doctor heal those up just to be on the safe side.”

Krim agreed as the Shift Car beeped as made its way over to the Roidmude. The Shift Car then floated over towards the human-looking Roidmude and started its (very, very, VERY harsh) treatment.

Proto-Zero screamed, but only for a second. Mad Doctor was never gentle in its work, but the Roidmude had never even raised his voice let alone scream before today. It didn’t show on his Roidmude face, but Mad Doctor’s treatment was clearly painful.

Why hadn’t he given Proto-Zero emotions? Why did he shut Proto-Zero down? Would it have stopped Banno from only giving negative emotions to the other Roidmudes? Would he still be alive if he had?

Krim realized in that moment that there were so many things he could’ve done differently that could’ve avoided this entire scenario.

That wasn’t a possibility now. All he could do now was help Axl and Proto-Zero take down the Roidmudes, hope Honganji-san could get his special police task force off the ground, help Katherine create and maintain the equipment in order to do it.

Mad Doctor was done with its work quicker than Krim was expecting. Proto-Zero was panting from the treatment, but from Krim vantage point, his Core did look better than it did when he came in.

“Katherine, scan Proto-Zero and Speed Prototype,” Krim told her. “See if anything has happened to either of them.” Katherine nodded, placing the Shift Car under the scanner and starting up the scanner on the Roidmude as she got to work on remaking the metal for Proto-Zero’s chest. He, in the meantime, decided that something needed to be done to losing Proto-Zero like he did tonight would never happen again.


	3. Who Are You Supposed to Be?

Katherine was working on the metal plating that would go over Proto-Zero’s core. She was using the exact materials and blueprint that originally went into his physical design along with the measurements of the area that was removed to make a new panel.

She sighed in relief when she finished it. It looked just like the original minus the the 000 carved onto it. She looked at the clock and saw that it was getting late. She couldn’t get to the complete analysis of the Shift Car tonight, Proto Zero’s was done and she would be able to carve his number onto it…

The number that labeled him...

“Proto-Zero,” she interrupted Axl and Chase from their conversation. Dr. Steinbelt was too engrossed in his new project to pay attention to their conversation, something she was thankful for. “Do… What do you want me to carve into the plate?”

“...What?”

“I-if you’re fine with what was there, then I can just carve 000 back on, or I can leave it blank,” she amended her statement. “If you want some time to think it over, I can just weld it on and carve it in later.”

“...I would like to think about it,” Proto-Zero told her. “There is no need to weld it back on tonight.”

“Okay,” she said, somewhat relieved. “Your analysis is done and you’ll be fine with just a couple days of bed rest. I’ll be back first thing in the morning to check on the Shift Car. Axl, if we leave now, we can make the last train home.”

“Alright! See ya later!” Axl said goodbye to both Proto-Zero and Dr. Steinbelt. As she and her spouse left, she looked back to see Proto-Zero holding the blank chest piece, looking at it as if it held the secrets of the universe.

She hoped she made the right decision.

* * *

 Proto-Zero was, to be perfectly honest, overwhelmed by all of the new emotions that he was feeling as well as not being able to place words to them (probably caused by a programming oversight since he felt that nothing was wrong). Unfortunately, the Reploid was created with emotions and emotional understanding already programmed into him, so the best he could do was help him figure out what he was feeling at the present time (pain was evident, possibly fear of Heart, relief to be back at the Drive Pit).

What made him think though was Katherine’s suggestion to carve something else onto the metal besides 000 that would ultimately be placed above his core. He placed his hand over the clothing that he human form granted him, over the place the piece of metal would go. The question was did he want that?

Because he was a Roidmude, the obvious answer would be that his number should be carved onto it. Thinking about the number made him feel… he didn’t know what, but he didn’t care for the feeling.

Axl once talked to Krim about Reploids and how they differed from the Roidmudes. Besides the obvious of not having Core Driviars and completely different blue prints, there were way more variants of Reploids than the Bat, Cobra, and Spider (and himself being the sole Human) types of the Roidmudes. Axl said that he was probably meant for espionage, but the rest of the New Generation Reploids were built to do the work of many different types of builder Reploids. Other models of Reploids were meant to be scientists, housekeepers, companions, police officers, fighters, and anything other job someone could think of. What about the Roidmudes? What purpose did Banno originally create them for?

Axl told him that custom-made Reploids had custom names like himself and the two Reploids he used to fight alongside with, Mega Man X and Zero. He also said that a lot of the more common models were all under one name like the medical Reploids, Lifesaver, and the Reploid-tracking Reploid made around the time he left his world, Canine Tracker. However, some of them were renamed to give them some differentiation from the others like the Lifesaver the Reploid once knew that liked to be called Dr. Roboto.

The Roidmudes were named after their numbers. Even if his pronunciation was different from the others, he was still referred to by his number. The first three after him were the only ones that he knew of that got away from this with their evolution, now calling themselves Freeze, Heart, and Brain respectively.

Possibly being known by something other than Proto-Zero made him feel… good. It was much better feeling than having the 000 carved back into the metal.

With that decision out of the way, all that was left was to think up a name.

“Proto-Zero, is everything alright?” he heard Krim ask.

“Krim,” he said. He turned to his creator. “I no longer wish to be called Proto-Zero.”

“W-why?” Krim asked. Proto-Zero looked down at the piece of metal in his hands.

“I no longer wish to be known by a number,” he answered. “I want to be different from the other Roidmudes.”

“I see…” Krim said. “Hm… Do you have a name in mind already?”

“No,” Proto-Zero admitted. “I do not know what name I would like to go by, only that I no longer wish to be called Proto-Zero.”

“Then we shall think of a new name for you,” Krim said without any more hesitation.

Proto-Zero felt the corners of his human mouth twitch upwards.

* * *

Krim greeted the married couple as they walked into the Drive Pit. As soon as they were in, the newly-renamed Roidmude walked up to them.

“Katherine, I have decided on a name,” he told her as he handed her the metal he held all night long. “From now on, I would like to be called Chase. I would also like Chase to be carved into the metal instead of 000.”

“I can totally do that,” Katherine smiled. Krim watched as she took the metal from his hands and prepared it for carving the name into it.

It didn’t take long before Katherine finished. She got up from her seat and showed it to Chase.

A tiny smile formed on his face from seeing his new name on the metal that was soon going to be welded in place. Chase ran his hand over the name, a small smile gracing his lips and his eyes tearing up as he traced over the cursive writing. If Krim still have a mouth, it would be smiling as well.

“Thank you, Katherine,” Chase told her. He handed the metal back to her and sat down in a chair, turning back into his Roidmude form so that Dr. Stevens could do her work.While she was doing that, Krim pulled Axl over to the side.

“Axl,” he started. “There is going to be a new force in the Tokyo Police soon called the Special Investigations Division. It’s going to be focusing on getting rid of the Roidmudes in particular. If it's at all possible, I want you and Chase to become a part of it.”

“I’ll have to talk to Katherine about it, but I don’t see that being a problem,” Axl mused on it for a moment. He then smirked. “You’re a crafty little belt, you know that?”

“Wh-what do you mean?” Krim stuttered.

“You have to know someone if you know about this new department being formed in the police,” Axl told him. Krim would’ve started choking on air if he could. “Hey, I know people, too, so don’t worry about it. Actually…” Axl stood up and took out his cell phone. “ _Hey, Katherine, I’m going to go make a couple of phone calls real quick._ ”

“ _Alright!_ ” she said, not looking up from her work.

Krim couldn’t help but think who was Axl getting a hold of. Who would Axl know outside of his wife and her family? It was a complete mystery for the scientist.

He didn’t have long to wait as Axl came back in just as Katherine finished up her work. Chase took one more look at his new name on his chest before changing back into his human form, the smile having grown bigger than it was before. The scanner on Speed Prototype also beeped, signaling that it was complete.

Katherine made her way over there and took a look at what she was seeing. Her eyes widened as she continued to look over the data. “Dr. Steinbelt, you may want to take a look at this…” Krim rolled over to the computer screen and his eyes would’ve widened if he had any.

“ _Oh my God…_ ” he said in English before switching back to Japanese. “Speed Prototype has been compromised…”

“Compromised how?” Axl asked, the belt hearing the wariness in his voice.

“It's unusable,” Katherine explained to her husband. “I can’t even pull any data out of it except for the occasional 1 and 0.”

“It must’ve been damaged during the fight with Heart,” Krim realized. He started thinking whether it would be worth it to fix the poor Shift Car. Sure it was only a prototype, but right now that was the only weapon he and Chase personally had to fight against the Roidmudes. Who knows how long it would take to fix and how long it would take for Speed to be done? Maybe the fix was doable, but if it wasn’t he wouldn’t be able to protect Chase from-

Wait a moment…

“Katherine, let’s continue research on the Speed Shift Car,” Krim asked her. “I also have another idea in mind.” Everyone in the room looked at the belt. He started spilling his heart out to the group. “I do not want to be in a position where I cannot do anything to protect Chase again. I need something that will allow me to do so.”

“I understand,” Katherine told him. “I would be honored to help you build a body that will allow you to fight.”

“I wasn’t thinking of a body…”

Katherine could only glare at him. “...It better not be what I think it's going to be.”

(As the two worked on designing and then building the car Krim later named Tridoron, Katherine made her hatred for the new project clear. Chase, figuring out that the sooner the Tridoron was done the sooner Katherine would let go of her hatred and therefore decided to help in hopes of cutting down the time needed to complete it. Axl chuckled at his wife’s hatred for the project until she decided that he could help out, too.

Krim could tell that Axl very much regretted his decision to laugh.)


	4. How Were We Found?

One month after the Global Freeze, they found them.

Shijima Kiriko and Kano Koichi. Both were traffic officers for the police for the Tokyo Police. The two had met by coincidence when there was an accident on the highway and both were sent to redirect traffic flow and investigate the cars’ owners respectively. They had struck up a friendship of sorts after they were done. During one of their discussions over their lunch break, both said that they wanted to find the warrior that fought against the Roidmudes the night of the Global Freeze albeit for two different reasons.

Kiriko wanted to find the person that saved her life and thank him for doing so.

Koichi wanted to track down the robot that had copied him and thought that the warrior that Kiriko mentioned was his best chance to find out.

How the two managed to find out about the Drive Pit, the four would probably never know.

* * *

Krim and Katherine were busy tweaking the new Shift Speed Shift Car on the other side of the recently completed Tridoron, so they didn’t notice or didn’t care when the two snuck into the Pit, probably thinking that Axl was back with the take out Chinese food.

“You,” both Chase and the male human Chase copied said at the same time. The woman he was with gasped. Chase thought that was because he looked exactly like the human when he was in his human form. Chase could hear Katherine call for Krim behind the completed Tridoron.

“You’re… You’re the robot that copied Kano-san,” the new woman stated while walking closer to the Roidmude.

“I am,” Chase confirmed for her. He then looked at Kano. “It was because I copied you that I was able to successfully escape the other Roidmudes before they could recapture me and alter my programming, Kano. If it wasn’t for you being at that alleyway when you were, I would most certainly not be here now.”

Kano and the woman stared at him. Chase didn’t understand humans enough to know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

“I think… when my husband gets back with the food, we should explain everything to you two,” Katherine offered. Chase watched as both of them looked at each other before nodding slowly.

Chase still didn’t have a full grasp of his human feelings yet, but despite having acted as his normal self, his core was beating fast in his chest. It took almost everything he had to not have his voice crack when he was talking. It took everything he had to stop his limbs from shaking uncontrollably and to not run out of there as fast as he could. He did notice that it started when the two new humans walked into the Drive Pit. He would have to ask Axl about this emotion later.

“Honey, I’m baaaa…” Axl trailed off, stopping at the door and looked at the two guests that were there. He then pointed at Koichi and shouted “ВЫ!”

“Um, we should probably give introductions,” Katherine suggested. Chase nodded in agreement. “My name is Dr. Katherine Stevens and this is my husband, Axl Stevens.”

Axl didn’t make any movements from the door.

“My name is Kano Koichi,” Kano told them.

“My name is Chase,” Chase introduced himself.

“Shijima Kiriko,” the unknown woman introduced herself.

Chase felt… a bit of shock when he recognized that name. He remembered a little girl and her infant brother visiting the lab with their mother. He remembers not feeling anything at the time because he truly couldn’t. He remembers playing with the little girl outside the lab for a little bit. He remembers holding the infant boy in his arms. He remembers the mother smiling at him while he entertained her children, but frowning heavily at Banno. Krim was out of the lab that day, working on improving the Core Driviars.

Seeing her face also brought back a brief memory from the night of the Global Freeze. She was about to be a victim of 010 when he saved her. He couldn’t help her get to safety at the time because there were still too many Roidmudes that were terrorizing the world, but seeing her here and now made him feel… glad that she was okay.

Recognizing the feeling made him feel a bit prouder about himself (a feeling he had come to feel a lot of recently when he learned something new and recognized the emotions he was felling).

“You were attacked by 010,” Chase recounted to Kiriko his (apparently) most recent memories of her. “I defeated the Roidmude before you were turned into data. I am… glad that you are alright.” Chase watched Kiriko’s eyes widened.

“You’re… the warrior from that night,” Kiriko said.

“ _Exactly right_ ,” Krim said from the shadows in English. He rolled out so that everyone could see him. Axl started walking into the room while Koichi and Kiriko started backing away from his creator. “Hello, I am Dr. Krim Steinbelt.”

Chase looked at Koichi’s and Kiriko’s faces and copied the emotions they were displaying on his face. It reminded him when he thought of Heart and if he would capture him and change his coding. He recognized the emotion as fear. Were those two humans scared of Krim?

“Hey, Axl,” Katherine walked over to her husband. “We should eat the food before it gets cold.” Axl nodded in agreement. He walked over to the other two humans and slung his arms over their shoulders.

“Don’t worry about Krim,” Axl reassured them. “He’s harmless; he couldn’t even hurt a fly. C’mon, I got food; let’s eat!”

* * *

 Because of the two extra and unexpected people, there wasn’t as much to go around as Katherine initially thought. Axl and Chase helped by only taking enough - Axl claiming that he had gotten some food at a stand on the way here and wasn’t as hungry and Chase only wanted food for the tasting aspect, having no real need for food in the first place.

As the group of five ate, Krim ‘sat’ by the table and recounted his tale the same way he told the Stevens. He also added in what happened between the time the married couple joined in the battle, the time Chase got kidnapped and rescued, and the few months that have passed since then. He also told the two police officers about the Special Division that was about to be finalized and set up upstairs.

“I would like to join,” Kiriko told them. “I want to help stop the Roidmudes. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did.”

Instead of nodding, Krim made a noise of affirmation. He then looked over at Koichi. The traffic officer seemed to be in deep thought. “I will… need some time to think this over,” he said. Krim saw him look over to the clock. “I promise I will not speak a word about this place to anyone. Please excuse me.” He got up and left the Drive Pit. Axl and Katherine looked as concerned as Krim felt. Knowing that Kiriko knew the most about Koichi, she probably had the answers they were looking for.

“His wife is pregnant right now,” Kiriko didn’t disappoint. “He wants to spend as much time with her as possible outside of work.”

Krim had never had a wife or a child - his research was his life when he was alive, after all - but he knew that if his life had taken a different route, he would want to be with his pregnant wife as much as possible as well. He suddenly questioned if Axl and Katherine would ever have kids. Physically it was impossible for Axl to have kids, but there was always adoption in the future.

“What is pregnant?” Chase suddenly asked, his face as stoic as ever.

“That’s when a woman is carrying a baby inside of her,” Katherine explained. Krim noticed that Kiriko’s face had a dusting of red on her cheeks.

“How does the baby get inside of a woman?”

Katherine and Kiriko looked away, their faces turning red. While Axl’s face didn’t change color (he was most likely physically incapable of doing so), he looked just as uncomfortable with the situation as the two women and was muttering something in Russian. Krim felt just as uncomfortable as they looked. Chase just looked at them all, probably trying to figure out why they were acting this way.


	5. What Makes a Kamen Rider?

Katherine squealed just a tiny bit and why wouldn’t she? After a few days of fine tuning, the Shift Speed Shift Car was finally done! They were lucky that there were only a few Roidmude incidents over the past few weeks and that Axl was able to send them running as Iris, but who knew how long that would’ve lasted. With Shift Speed, they would hopefully be able to destroy the Roidmudes’ cores and not just their bodies.

“It’s ready!” Katherine squealed as she held out the new Shift Car. She turned around and saw that no one was inside the Drive Pit. “ _What the heck?!_ ”

“ _Didn’t you hear that they were all leaving to go out for lunch?_ ” Dr. Steinbelt asked her from his pedestal in English. The word lunch alone made her stomach growl. She was working so hard she didn’t even realize she was hungry. “ _They even asked if you wanted to come along, but you said no. However, Axl promised to bring you something back._ ”

“ _Joys,_ ” she replied. She honestly couldn’t remember that conversation for the life of her; it happened when she was too engrossed in her work. She then started grumbling on how they should be back soon and on how hungry she was.

* * *

Chase was nervous.

He had felt the emotion enough to recognize it when it started coming up, having barely managed to contain the emotion when he was around Koichi at first. While he no longer felt that way when the human he copied was in the room, a crowd of civilians when he wasn’t trying to save them was, how Axl put it earlier, pushing him over the edge. Even if he didn’t need to do it, he started breathing in and out slowly in hopes of slowing down the pounding of his core. It helped abate the feeling if only a bit.

No one had yet asked him anything other than what he wanted to eat and drink. Axl did say that he, in the Reploid’s words, ‘always had his poker face on.’ Listening to the others talk about their families helped - Kiriko about her brother studying photography in America, Koichi talked about his wife and the upcoming baby (however, he didn’t say much after telling her that he had work-related things to do today), and Axl was talking about how he met Katherine.

“Nightingale City?!” Kiriko’s said. Her and Koichi’s eyes widened when he mentioned the place. “Isn’t that the place in America where all of those monsters attacked?”

“Yeah, it is,” Axl confirmed. “I sorta… kinda saved her from a couple of the monsters…”

“That’s incredible,” Koichi replied.

“Not really,” Axl waved them off. “Anyways, she found out who I was, we found out that we were both going to Japan for school, and we got married right after she got her doctorate; that was about six months ago.”

Chase didn’t have to tell any stories he had on family when the food and drinks came. The drink - ice tea - was okay. Chase decided that if someone handed it to him, he would drink it, but he wouldn’t go out of his way to buy it. The pork ramen, however, was good. Very good. It was the best food he had so far. While he wanted to keep trying other foods, Chase knew that he would be having this food again if it was possible.

With Axl carrying a meal back for his wife, they walked back to the Drive Pit. The others talked about various things, but Chase kept to himself, just listening to the conversation mainly happening between Axl and Kiriko. They had gone out and got good food without any Roidmudes attacking anyone.

This day was… relatively peaceful compared to his other outings.

* * *

Krim looked at the two candidates in front of him. He was lucky it was a Sunday and both Koichi (who had recently said that he would join the Special Investigations Division if given the opportunity, but was not yet certain if he wanted to use the Drive System) and Kiriko had the day off so that they could see if any of them could also potentially use the Drive System alongside Chase. Katherine would not be a candidate (and angrily eating her ramen in the corner) and Axl refused to do so (he wouldn’t tell anyone the reason as he cowered away from his wife’s glares).

Chase was first to try out the new Shift Speed Shift Car since he was already able to use Shift Speed Prototype and had insisted to go first. Krim agreed, knowing that if Chase couldn’t handle it, there was no way any human could. He was already around Chase’s waist and the Drive Brace was on the Roidmude’s right wrist.

“Alright Chase, _start your engine_!” Chase turned the Advanced Ignition of the Drive Driver and placed Shift Speed into the Shift Brace in Lever Mode.

“Henshin,” Chase said. He flipped the Shift Car.

“Drive: Type Speed!” Krim said as he felt all the data flow into him. The subroutines built into the Driver started materializing the armor around Chase. Krim concentrated on the power output, making sure that it was not too much for the Roidmude to handle (Krim knew that he could already handle all of the output from Shift Speed Prototype, but Shift Speed was much stronger than the previous Shift Car). The armor all came together and formed on Chase properly. The front left area of the car shifted so that the Type Speed Wheel could form from the tire. The newly formed tire then flew over to Chase and connected with his chest.

The transformation held. Chase also did a few half-hearted kicks and punches.

“ _Nice work, Chase_ ,” Krim praised him. “Kikiko?”

As soon as Kiriko said “Henshin”, Krim knew that something was off. As the armor appeared around her, he tried lowering the power output as much as possible. Even when the armor appeared around her, she was still struggling to keep it together.

As soon as the Type Speed Tire tried to attach, the entire transformation fell apart and she fell to the ground.

Chase ran over to them and helped Kiriko up. “Are you alright, Kiriko, Krim?” he asked.

“I-I’m okay,” Kiriko tells him.

“It seems you are incompatible with the Drive System, Kiriko,” Krim said his results. “For now, Chase, you will continue to use the Drive System.”

From where Krim could see, Kiriko has a look of disappointment on her face. Axl then jumped in. “Hey, Kiriko-chan, it’s not the end of the world. Even if you can’t be a Kamen Rider right now, that doesn’t mean you can’t support the Kamen Rider.”

“What?” Krim and everyone else asked.

“Well, Kamen Rider Birth always had back-up to hand him more medals and provide as a distraction - heck, that’s what the second Birth did before he was strong enough to be a Kamen Rider,” Axl continued on speaking. “OOO usually has the one good Greeed as back-up. Den-O always fights as a pair at worst and a group at best. Oh, and Fourze always had his friends backing him up - это были хорошие времена...”

“Kamen Rider?” Koichi was the one to speak up.

“Yeah,” Axl replied. “One of the Roidmudes said that I was working with THE Kamen Rider before he ran off. I thought over it and yeah, Chase is A Kamen Rider.”

“What is a Kamen Rider?” Krim asked.

“A masked warrior who drives around fighting different monsters for human freedom,” Katherine said after she finished her meal. “My sister-in-law and my second cousin-in-law are Kamen Riders and no, I’m not telling you their identities; I promised them I wouldn’t.” She then looks at Chase. Krim could almost see the gears in his head turning. “Yeah, I can see it. He’s a Kamen Rider through and through. He uses the Drive System… Kamen Rider Drive!”

“Kamen Rider… Drive…” Chase repeated. Krim saw what he liked to call Chase’s thinking face. He noticed that the Roidmude did it whenever his emotions were involved. “The name… will work…”

“I think it is a good name,” Koichi interrupted. “Kamen Rider Drive…”

* * *

A week after they were discovered by Koichi and Kiriko, Chase was out clothes shopping with both Katherine and Axl. Axl had passed his police training earlier that week and had passed with, as the Reploid put it, with flying colors and with Chase switching off with Koichi every other day, they would need clothes to match their new jobs.

Chase knew that was a lie. He and Axl would be wearing police uniforms since neither he nor Koichi held a high enough rank to warrant a suit. Katherine was buying a new work outfit - she was going to be the scientific consultant for the Special Investigations Division - but apparently their main goal was to get different outfits for Chase to wear when he wasn’t on duty (he had been borrowing Axl’s oversized clothes in the meantime).

With Katherine’s help, he now had a few outfits that fit. The clothes were… nice? He wasn’t quite sure. He… liked the purple jacket that he found. Katherine said that all of his other outfits would go with the jacket. Chase didn’t know so he… trusted that Katerine was right.

Axl complained about the time they took when they left the last store. Chase went into a public bathroom to change clothes. He decided to wear the jacket he found along with a white undershirt, the purple, leather pants Katherine picked out, and black boots. He exited the stall when he was done and looked at himself in the mirror.

He looked… human.

No one else was in the bathroom nor were there any security cameras inside, so Chase reverted back into his Roidmude form. He had never seen his Roidmude form reflected back at him, having no need to ever go into a restroom until now. His clothes digitized along with his human disguise, leaving him able to see clearly his entire Roidmude body clearly.

Looking at his true form, even with his name carved into his chest instead of his number, made him feel… many different emotions at once. Chase could only make out one after a few seconds of thinking - overwhelmed. He quickly turned back into his human form, making a mental note that he would think over the emotions tonight.

As soon as his human disguise was put back up, Axl ran into the bathroom. Chase looked back, wondering why he ran into the room as fast as he did.

“Kiriko called,” the Reploid explained. “It’s Koichi.”


	6. What Happened to My Friend?

During Kano Koichi’s and Shijima Kiriko’s last shift in the traffic police for a while, Koichi was scheduled to watching out for any traffic infractions.

He had pulled over a speeding car on the highway. He was writing the ticket when he was struck by another speeding car.

He was knocked unconscious upon impact and was barely alive when the ambulance showed up. He was sent in for immediate, emergency surgery and would subsequently be put on life support.

Kiriko was the one sent to the hospital to report back to her superiors on Koichi’s health. She had called Katherine to tell her what happened. Katherine told Axl everything that Kiriko told her before Axl ran into the bathroom to relay all of the information to Chase.

The three rushed over to the hospital where he was being treated.

* * *

 When they got there, Chase saw Kiriko waiting for them in the lobby still in her work uniform. She looked stressed about the entire situation. “Everyone…”

“What’s happening right now?” Axl asked her.

“He’s still in surgery,” Kiriko whispered. “His wife came in a little bit ago.” Chase looked over to see the only person in the waiting room alone was a woman with a very large stomach sitting on a chair in the waiting room. There were tracks of water going down her face. Sadness, Chase thought that was the most likely emotion that she was experiencing. She then made a face (it showed the one emotion he could easily recognize on another’s face, pain) before it passed. She rubbed her stomach.

“She is in pain,” Chase told the others.

“That’s Kano-san’s wife,” Kiriko explained. The next thing she said was “I have call the station. Excuse me.” She then bowed and went outside the hospital.

Some grunting pulled Chase’s attention away from Axl’s and Katherine’s conversation in English. The woman Kiriko said was Koichi’s wife was struggling to stand up. He walked over to where she was. “Do you need help, Kano?”

Her eyes widened when she looked at him. She asked “W-who are you?”

“My name is Chase,” he replied immediately. He helped her to stand up. “You are the wife of Kano Koichi, correct?”

“Y-yes,” she stuttered back. Chase could see that her eyes were tearing up. She reached into her purse and dabbed her eyes with a tissue. “C-come with me t-to the roof, please?”

Chase nodded. He followed the woman into the elevator and waited as it took them all the way to the roof. There was no one else on the roof when they got there. Kano turned towards him. She was still using the tissue to wipe her tears away. She turned away from him.

“You’re the robot Koichi-kun told me about,” she said. “He said that out there there is a good robot that looks just like him. I… I didn’t believe him b-but seeing you…”

Chase stayed silent. While his emotional understanding was growing, he didn’t know what emotions this female human was experiencing. He could tell that there were a lot of different emotions, but besides sadness he couldn’t distinguish any other emotions she might be feeling. He knew that he himself was starting to become nervous and… scared? Yes, scared was an accurate word to label this emotional response.

“H-how do you know Koichi-kun?” Kano asked.

“Some of my own kind had kidnapped me over a month ago,” Chase told her without missing a beat. Recalling the memories made him feel… he didn’t know the feeling. It was still so hard for Chase to know how he felt about it despite it being in the past - he didn’t have emotions when it took place. “A friend rescued me and we escaped them. I most likely would not have made it if I had not taken on the appearance of a human. Your husband was the first human we came across. I copied his appearance so that I could move through human society without bringing attention to myself.”

She said nothing. Chase quickly dismissed those memories and brought up newer ones. “About a week ago, he and one of his coworkers discovered where I stay. They have both promised to not disclose this information and anything about myself. I ask that you do the same.”

It was silent for a few seconds before Kano said “You… copied my husband… D-does that mean you copied his memories and feelings as well?”

“I do not have any of Koichi’s memories,” Chase told her. “I have… difficulty understanding human feelings as well as feeling them, but the template of his emotions have accelerated my ability to feel and understand my own.” He clutched the clothing that was over his core.

Kano made a face, grabbing her stomach. Chase was automatically on alert. “You are in pain. What is the cause?”

“I’m… It’s coming,” Kano replied. “I-I should go back to the lobby…”

“What is coming?” he asked as he followed her back into the elevator. She looked at him. Chase tried to decipher what emotion she was expressing, but he could not.

“Could… could you do me a favor?” she finally asked again. Chase just stared at her. “P-Please take my husband’s place at the police station. I believe in him, and… since he believes in you, I’ll believe in you, too.”

Before Chase could respond, the elevator came to the lowest floor and she got out. A doctor came up to her and helped her into a wheelchair. She was then rolled away. Chase walked out of the elevator, but he did not follow since Kiriko walked back into the hospital at that moment.

“I told them that I don’t know how Kano-san is doing,” Kiriko said. “W-What should I say?”

“...I will take Koichi’s place,” Chase said.

“Chase, are you sure?” Katherine asked him.

“Kano requested that I do so,” he replied. He clutched his jacket at the part that covered his core. “I… also believe that I can better protect humans this way.”

“O… Okay, Chase,” Kiriko told him. “I can’t say that Kano-san wasn’t injured, but I might be able to make it so that you can at least do office work while you’re recovering.” He nodded.

“I hope nobody notices the difference,” Katherine revealed her worries. Chase looked at her. “You and Koichi-san look exactly the same, but that’s everything you two have in common. I’m worried that people will notice.”

“I don’t think that will be too much of a problem,” Kiriko replied. “Besides myself, no one in our department will be working with us. Also, Kano-san isn’t well known outside of the department anyways, so it’s highly unlikely unlikely that anyone will recognize him, anyways.”

“ _ Everything will work out, Katherine _ ,” Axl told his wife in English. “ _ Chase-san can take care of himself and Koichi-san will get better before anyone figures it out! _ ”

Chase didn’t say anything.

* * *

 Doctors and nurses had walked in and out of the waiting room all day. When it was around six, both Axl and Katherine left so that they could go eat and tell Krim the news. It wasn’t until around nine o’clock at night until they got more news about what was going on from a doctor.

“Are you related to Kano Koichi?” the doctor asked Chase.

“Koichi-san and Chase-san are brothers,” Kiriko answered for him.

“Well, your brother is in the clear,” the doctor told him. “He was very badly injured, so he will be in the hospital for quite some time. He should wake up by tomorrow morning and is estimated to start physical therapy in a month and a half.”

Chase didn’t say anything.

“As for his wife, she is resting in her room; you are now an uncle to a little girl. However, visiting hours are over for today. You can see them tomorrow morning at 10.”

“Thank you for the information,” Chase replied after he felt Kiriko nudge his foot. He then bowed slightly just as Katherine taught him. He and Kiriko then left the hospital.

Koichi would be fine, but not for a long time. Kano was no longer in pain and now had a baby to take care of.

For now, he would focus on taking Koichi’s place and helping the Special Investigations Division fight the Roidmudes that will attack humanity.


End file.
